Well done post. Good for you for diving into this issue and carving out a non-partisan position.

Regarding what you said with religion, the challenge is what I call "the religious impulse". The confusion between this impulse - hardwired into all human action - and the organized religions which have been spawned from it, is where the problem has existed for the entirety of humanity. To treat abortion as anything other than a spiritual battle is to miss the mark of what this debate is about.

It's not about 6 weeks, or 12 weeks, or full-term. Just as you say very well in your post, the question is whether it is morally permissible to end a life because it has not yet been separated from the life of the mother who carries it. That is a moral question, and morality (as we are all very aware) is NOT a political trait. Morality exists in the religious impulse.

The trouble comes because when people express this impulse, 95% express it in terms of a specific organized religion. Given that no organized religion captures all hearts, and all organized religions contain significant moral corruption within their structures (no exceptions), all of these vehicles lose their legitimacy to address the actual moral question being discussed.

I look at abortion practically. When I was younger I was pro-choice along the lines of "Safe, Legal, and Rare". Looking at what has happened over the past 40 years, I have reversed position. There is an assumption that people cannot change position; perhaps I am the exception that proves the rule, but I know several other people who are moving the same direction I am. From a practical point of view, the abortion universe in the west has proven that - when put in the moral quagmire of easy access to abortion - too many young people do not accept the moral ramifications of their acts. We have moved from a debate about tolerating abortion to a debate about celebrating abortion. Watching people proudly declare their abortions and pretend that the very fact they had an abortion makes them morally superior is sickening. It's just disgusting. If that's the result of easy access to abortion, I'm out. Abortion should NEVER be celebrated. It is the killing of an innocent life. There are situations in which I was able to see it being tolerated, but that's not what has happened. From the point of view of the "practice" of abortion (back to looking at this practically), IT HAS NOT WORKED. It has instead destroyed the moral compass of multiple generations. This must stop.

Thanks again for a well thought out post.